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Creating Old Mistakes from New Opportunities

Seattle used to have a very simple way of doing things: we looked at what other cities did–and did the opposite. Every other city was getting rid of their farmer’s markets, and we saved ours. Every other city was putting their stadiums way the hell and gone in the suburbs and we put ours right downtown. When we did follow other cities, we copied Cinncinatti and built an elevated roadway along the waterfront–the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
Now, another city agency is looking to other cities and about to make a horrific mistake.
The Seattle Housing Authority is about to tear down the Yesler Terrace low-income housing.
The Yesler Terrace is a group of small, two story townhouses, each with a separate entrance and little patch of garden or lawn to call their own. Big trees grace the site and the views of some of the places are to die for.
I drive tourist by sometimes and they can’t believe that these attractive homes are for low income.
So the Housing Authority is going to tear them down and replace them with–ready for this?–tall buildings with plazas around them. The tall buildings with plazas around them that cities like New York, Chicago and Detroit have given up on and blown up. These ‘boxes of crime’ have proven themselves to be heartless, soul-less dead-ends for low-income people and the Seattle Housing Authority is planning to build several where single family housing once served.
It would be funny if there weren’t people’s very lives at stake. Not to mention when we have to come back in twenty-five years and blow up the towers and replace them with single family homes. And the Seattle Housing Authority will say “How could we have known?”
And I would say to them, “You could have followed the old scheme and done the opposite of every other city.”

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.